Winning coalitions for climate policy

Meckling, Jonas; Kelsey, Nina; Biber, Eric; Zysman, John

doi:10.1126/science.aab1336

Cited by 238 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For example, theories of policy networks see policymaking as a deeply political process involving negotiations, compromises and the building of coalitions with stakeholders. 47 Acknowledging disagreements and distributed power, politics is the 'art of the possible' rather than the 'calculation of the optimal'. This suggests that more expensive transitions may be preferable if stakeholder support makes their implementation more feasible.…”

Section: Focus On Policy Mixes Not Isolated Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…38 Instead, policymakers should mobilise a range of policies, such as financial instruments (taxes, subsidies, grants, loans), regulatory instruments (standards, laws, performance targets) and processual instruments 39 (demonstration projects, network management, public debates, consultations, foresight exercises, roadmaps). The appropriate mix is likely to vary between countries and domains, depending on political cultures and stakeholder configurations.…”

Section: Focus On Policy Mixes Not Isolated Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Socio-Technical Dynamics of Low-Carbon Transitions

Geels

Sovacool

Schwanen

et al. 2017

Joule

387

198

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SummaryEffective mitigation of climate change will require far-reaching transformations of electricity, heat, agricultural, transport and other systems. The energy studies and modelling research that so often dominates academic and policy debates provide valuable insights into these transitions, but remain constrained by their focus on rational decision-making and their neglect of non-linear dynamics and broader social processes. This review paper describes insights from a complementary socio-technical approach that addresses the interdependent social, political, cultural, and technical processes of transitions. Focusing on the 'Multi-Level Perspective' (MLP), transitions are conceptualized as arising from the alignment of processes within and between three analytical levels: niche-innovations, socio-technical regimes and the socio-technical landscape. This analytical framework is illustrated with a case study of the German electricity transition and used to appraise lowcarbon transitions in several other sectors. We end by articulating four lessons for managing lowcarbon transitions.

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Section: Focus On Policy Mixes Not Isolated Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Focus On Policy Mixes Not Isolated Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socio-Technical Dynamics of Low-Carbon Transitions

Geels

Sovacool

Schwanen

et al. 2017

Joule

387

198

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For instance, a number of studies suggest that broad distribution of co-benefits of climate mitigation strategies to actors beyond professional energy companies can work to change narratives regionally and nationally, gradually generating support for more ambitious and accelerated climate and energy policy (Meckling et al 2015). Furthermore, it is quite possible that engaging community organisations in climate mitigation and adaptation as well as other pertinent policy challenges that simultaneously address local needs can counter populist sentiments resulting from socio-economic marginalization and lack of control over the political system, restoring civic engagement and effective democratic processes.…”

Section: Limitations and Lines Of Further Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Communitarian approaches to sustainable development: the governance, local impacts and costs of community energy

Berka¹

2018

Diss. For.

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This dissertation explores the governance, local impacts and costs of community-owned renewable energy (CRE). The objective is to understand if and in what context collective local ownership models represent a feasible and effective means to operationalising a more 'sustainable development' in the renewable energy sector and beyond. The articles draw on a range of fields, from energy governance and project economics to impact evaluation. Specific methodologies used are systematic literature review, discourse analysis, historical institutional analysis and risk-extended net present valuation. Unique contributions of this work are a meta-level understanding of the community energy sector in the UK and an understanding of its emergence in context of technological and institutional change. In addition, it provides an explicit assessment of Quality of Evidence problems in this subfield of energy and social science research, placing it firmly in the context of current literature and methods in project economics and impact evaluation. Findings show that ownership patterns in the energy sector are precarious and subject to changing narratives that emerge in response to domestic socio-economic and political dilemma's, exogenous shocks, and emerging economic schools of thought. CRE projects have the potential to generate a variety of positive local impacts that vary depending on the motivation and management of projects and project revenues. Under certain conditions CRE can empower community organisations to address systemic socio-economic problems in the public domain. Finally, in a competitive market setting and where CRE is implemented by newly-established grassroots organisations, projects face a range of risks that commercial projects do not, and that erode their financial viability. As such, the development and expansion of community renewable energy as a substantial proportion of the energy sector requires policy makers to assign it special status and provide policy support on the basis of its local social, economic and environmental benefits. Policy support for community renewable energy requires a willingness to integrate energy and social policy domains.

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“…Sector-specific innovation policy is therefore at least as important as economy-wide climate policy, and may in fact enable it. 13 Innovation policies (R&D subsidies, feed-in-tariffs, demonstration projects, adoption subsidies) are also more politically feasible than economy-wide carbon taxes, because the former provide concentrated benefits, whereas the latter imposes costs on many voters and industries. 11 Second, low-carbon innovation policy should not only focus on R&D and financial incentives, but also on experimentation, learning, stakeholder involvement, social acceptance, positive discourses and opportunities for new entrants.…”

Section: Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Green industries and supply chains can also solidify political coalitions supporting ambitious climate policies and provide a counterweight to incumbents. 13 Furthermore, technological progress can drive climate policy by providing solutions or altering economic interests. 14 Shale gas and solar-PV developments, for instance, altered the US and Chinese positions in the international climate negotiations.…”

Section: Societal and Business Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sociotechnical transitions for deep decarbonization

Geels

Sovacool

Schwanen

et al. 2017

Science

612

303

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Summary:The acceleration of low-carbon transitions across the sociotechnical systems of electricity, heat, buildings, manufacturing, and transport requires new conceptual approaches, analytical foci, and policy recommendations.Rapid and deep reductions in greenhouse gas emission are needed to avoid dangerous climate change. To provide a reasonable (66%) chance of limiting global temperature increases to below 2 o C, global energy-related carbon emissions must peak by 2020 and fall by more than 70% in the next 35 years.1 This implies a tripling of the annual rate of energy efficiency improvement, retrofitting the entire building stock, generating 95% of electricity from low-carbon sources by 2050 and shifting almost entirely towards electric cars.Deep decarbonization will necessitate low-carbon transitions across electricity, transport, heat, industrial, forestry and agricultural systems. But despite recent rapid growth in renewable electricity generation, the rate of progress towards this wider goal remains slow. Moreover, many energy and climate researchers remain wedded to disciplinary approaches that focus on a single piece of the lowcarbon transition puzzle. 2 A case in point is a recent Policy Forum 3 proposing a 'carbon law' that will guarantee that zero-emissions are reached. This model-based prescription focuses on policy, but not politics, culture, business, and social factors, thus avoiding many crucial real-world drivers of accelerated transitions.This Policy Forum presents a 'sociotechnical' framework that addresses the multidimensionality of the deep decarbonization challenge and shows how co-evolutionary interactions between technologies and multiple societal groups can accelerate low-carbon transitions. We organize this approach around four lessons, emphasizing factors that receive less attention in techno-economic and modeling approaches.

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Winning coalitions for climate policy

Abstract: Green industrial policy builds support for carbon regulation

Cited by 238 publications

References 12 publications

The Socio-Technical Dynamics of Low-Carbon Transitions

The Socio-Technical Dynamics of Low-Carbon Transitions

Communitarian approaches to sustainable development: the governance, local impacts and costs of community energy

Sociotechnical transitions for deep decarbonization

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